Removable grid member

ABSTRACT

A removable member for an assembly of members supporting panel boards having means cooperating therewith permitting disassembly of the members and a reaction force on one of said members tending to maintain the members in secure assembled relationship with the panel boards.

ilniteri Sttes Patent owning, Jr. et a1.

[54] REMOVABLE GRID MEMBER [72] Inventors: Lucien R. Downing, Jr., Avon Lake; David F. Mieyal, Strongsville, both of Ohio [73] Assignee: Donn Products, incorporated [22] Filed: Oct. 26, 1970 [21] App1. No.: 83,895

[52] US. C1. ..52/476, 52/488, 52/656, 52/665 [51] Int. Cl. ..E04b 5/52 [58] Field Of Search ..52/475, 476, 494-502, 52/624, 656, 484, 488, 665, 730

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,340,662 9/1967 Deinhart et al ..52/495 2,999,277 9/1961 Spencer et a1 ..52/495 1,039,224 9/1912 Ulrich ..52/495 1,826,133 10/1931 Hatch ..52/495 2,447,694 8/1948 Fil'lCll ..52/496 2,139,641 12/1938 Neumister ..52/484 51 Sept. 26, 1972 2,317,907 4/1943 Gent ..52/484 3,207,057 9/1965 Brown et a1. ..52/475 1,998,423 4/1935 Stubbs ..52/494 2,877,878 3/1959 Jontsch ..52/438 FOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLICATIONS 1,424,561 12/ 1 965 France ..52/475 564,026 3/1923 France ..52/484 324,445 6/1970 Sweden ..52/484 1,241,084 3/1967 Germany ..52/498 115,052 9/1969 Denmark ..52/496 Primary Examiner-Frank L. Abbott Assistant Examiner-Leslie A. Braun AttorneyJerome F. Kramer [57] ABSTRACT A removable member for an assembly of members supporting panel boards having means cooperating therewith permitting disassembly of the members and a reaction force on one of said members tending to maintain the members in secure assembled relationship with the panel boards.

8 Claims, 3 Drawing Figures PATtNTEflstrz slsn s.s93'.303

-L IEN R. DOWNING JR. 2. DAVI i IEYAL I) r o.

ATTORNEY REMOVABLE GRID MEMBER The present invention relates to wall or ceiling systems having a plurality of interlocking main and cross-beams supporting the wall or ceiling material. This type of grid system is generally shown in U. S. Pat. No. 3,142,367. The grid systems of this general type, however, only provide access to the interior of a wall or ceiling by removal upwardly or inwardly of the board members, themselves.

An object of the present invention is to provide a frame construction having a grid member cooperating with cross-grid members in such a manner to permit removal of such grid member outwardly or downwardly to obtain access to the interior of the wall or ceiling.

A further object of this invention is to provide a frame construction having a grid member having a camming relationship with cross-grid members facilitating assembly of the grid member with the crossgrid members.

A still further object of this invention is to provide a spring on the end or ends of a removable grid member permitting assembly of the grid member with cross-grid members.

Another object of this invention is the provision of a means on the end or ends of a removable ceiling or wall grid member accessible from the exterior of the wall or ceiling for removal of said grid member from cross-grid members.

Still another object of this invention is the provision of a means between main support members and members supported thereby to align the supported members with the main support members and securely engage means carried by the supported members with the main support members.

The present invention may be better understood by reference to the annexed drawing wherein:

FIG. 1 illustrates the removable grid member assembled with a main grid or beam.

FIG. 2 illustrates the removable grid member.

FIG. 3 is a partial view of the removable grid member and main grid or beam assembled with ceiling boards in a frame construction.

Referring now to FIG. 1, a conventional main grid or beam member forms the main support member for a conventional suspended ceiling. The main beam 10 comprises a web portion 13 and flange portion 14 substantially normal thereto. The main beam can be supported or suspended by any conventional means such as a wire hanger 15.

The removable-grid member of this invention is illustrated at 11 and also comprises a web portion 16 and flange portion 17 substantially normal thereto. The cooperating relationship between the main beam and removable grid-or access beam 11 which is positioned substantially normal to the main beam 10 provides a support for a plurality of ceiling boards 12, as will become apparent hereinafter.

As shown in FIG. 1, the ceiling boards contain longitudinally extending grooves 18 into which the flange 17 of the removable grid member 11 is inserted to support each ceiling board. The ends of the ceiling board at 19 overlap the face of the flange 14 of the main beam 10. In this fashion, the support flanges of both the main beam 10 and removable grid 11 are concealed by the ceiling board.

The novel feature of this invention is the provision of a self-locking spring 20 which locks the removable cross-grid member 11 to the main beam 10 in their normal assembled relationship as illustrated in FIG. 1, and permits removal of the cross-grid member 11 from the main beam 10 outwardly away from the main beam to provide access to the interior of the ceiling.

The spring 20 comprises a leg 22 inserted into an opening 21 in the web of member 11. The leg 22 of the spring 20 contains a reverse bend 23 to lock spring 20 on one face of the web 16. On the opposite face of web 16, spring 20 contains an upwardly extending portion 24 along the face of the web 16 to securely lock the spring 20 to the web 16. The upwardly extending portion 24 of the spring 20 is wrapped about a rivet 25 as shown at 26 in FIG. 2. The aforementioned manner of carrying spring 20 on member 11 is illustrative of many modes of retaining the spring. For example, portions of web 16 could be struck out to grab or retain portion 24 of the spring 20 on web 16. It is only necessary that the connection between the spring 20 and web 16 provide a fixed reaction point, as illustrated at rivet 25, for the operating portion of the spring 20, as will become apparent hereinafter.

Spring 20 contains a downwardly and outwardly extending portion at 27 extending away from the end of member 11 from rivet 25. Spring 20 also contains a downwardly and inwardly extending portion 28 providing a reverse bend at 35 between portion 27 and 28. The extension or extending portions 27 and 28 of spring 20 provide, in effect, an ingress cam 29 and egress cam 30 upon the insertion or removal of member 11 from main beam 10. The spring 20 also contains a reverse bend at 31 and a downwardly extending leg 32 terminating in a hook-end 33 below the face of board or tile 12 to provide a spring manipulating leg exposed below the face of the ceiling board. Any convenient means can be placed upon the portion of leg 32 below the face of the ceiling board to provide a spring manipulating leg as will become apparent hereinafter.

In assembly of a grid system containing the removable grid 11, the main beams 10 are suspended in normal fashion by wires 15. The adjacent ceiling boards are then placed 'in position on supporting cross-tees by inserting the tile grooves 18 onto the flange of the crosstee. Then, the opposite edge grooves 18 of each of the adjacent ceiling boards are placed on theflange 17 of grid member 11 and the grid member 11 is forced upwardly until the portions 27 of spring 20 abut flange 14 of the main beam 10. Additional forcing of grid member 11 and supporting ceiling boards upwardly will cause the edge of the flange 14 of the main beam to force the spring 20 inward toward each end of the grid member 11 until the point 35 of the spring 20 passes over the edge of the flange 14. At this point, the normal outward forces of spring 20 away from the ends of grid member 11 will cause the downward and inward portion 28 of spring 20 to cam or snap over the edge of flange 14 to-lock the spring 20 over flange 14 toward the spring locking apex 31 of spring 20. In this assembled relationship, the overlapping portions 19 of the ceiling boards 12 abut the face of flange 14 and the outward force of spring 20 acting on the flange 14 of the main beam 10 supports the grid member 1 1 and ceiling boards 12 on the main beam 10. Further, although only one such member 11 is illustrated in FIG. 1, another member 11 or cross-tee of the type illustrated in U. S. Pat. No. 3,142,367 can be placed on the opposite side of beam to support the adjacent board 12.

In the above assembly, the downward and inward portion 28 of spring exerts a force outwardly and downwardly on flange 14 permitting the spring 20 to perform a self-aligning or self-centering function between members 10 and 11 and exert a force causing overlap portion 19 of ceiling boards 12 to be forced against the face of flange 14. As shown in FIG. 1, the upper surface of overlap portion 19 lies in substantially the same plane as groove 18 of board 12 and flange 17 of member 11. Further, the spring 20 in its relaxed condition illustrated in FIG. 2 has a vertical height from point to apex 31 which is greater than the vertical distance from point 25 on member 11 to the bottom of flange 17 of member 11. In the assembled condition illustrated in FIG. 1, however, with spring 20 in an unrelaxed condition, the distance from the apex 31 of spring 2 0 to rivet 25 is shortened with the rivet 25 forming a fixed reaction point for the downward and outward force of thecam portion of spring 20. Thus, since flange 17 and upper surface of overlap portion 19 lie in substantially the same plane and are both fixed with respect to the reaction point at rivet 25, the cam 30 will continuously exert a downward force on the edge of flange 14 until overlap portion 19 abuts flange 14. This relationship will always be present so long as the vertical height from the reaction point 25 to apex 31 in the relaxed condition of spring 20 is not exceeded by the vertical height from reaction point 25 to the upper surface of overlap portion 19. It is preferable to have the vertical height from point 25 to apex 31 in the spring relaxed condition sufficiently exceed the vertical height from point 25 to upper surface of 19 to adequately load spring 20 in the assembled condition.

It can thus be seen that since flange 14 is fixed against downward movement, the downward force by cam 30 on flange 14 produces a resultant upward force on overlap portion 19 against flange 14. In this fashion, in the assembled condition, the overlap'portion 19 of board 12 securely abuts flange 14. Also, since the edge portion of overlap portion 19 abuts the adjacent edge portion of the overlap portion of an adjacent board 12, the entire assembly of beams 10, 11 and boards 12 are self-aligned or self-centered due to thereaction force of cam 30 on flange 14.

In the above relationship of the action of spring 20 and the cam portion 30 thereof on a main support 10, it

can be seen that a spring of the type illustrated having a L reacting cam surface could be utilized to support ceiling or wall boards or any other type of supported members such as lighting fixture pans, floor tiles, etc.

To remove a member supported in the above described fashion, such asgrid member 11 (and thus its supported ceiling boards.) the hooked ends 33 of the mitting complete disassembly of the grid member and' supported ceiling boards from the main beams. In this fashion, it can be seen that grid member 11 and the configuration of spring 20 provides a readily outwardly removable grid member for a wall or ceiling support to provide access to the interior of the wall or ceiling.

Although a spring arrangement is illustrated on each end of grid member 1 l, a single spring on one end of a grid member with abutment means on the opposite end of such a member is contemplated by this invention.

Other modes of applying the principle of this invention may be employed instead of those specifically set forth above, changes being made as regards the details herein disclosed provided the elements set forth in any of the following claims, or the equivalent of such be employed.

I claim:

1. A grid member for supporting ceiling boards in a substantially common plane comprising:

a. an elongated T-sh'aped member having a web portion and a flange portion transverse to said web portion and extending substantially throughout the length of said web portion;

b. said flange portion being adapted to support ceiling boards in a predetermined configuration with the ceiling boards having a downwardly facing exterior; and,

0. spring biased means carried by at least one end of said T-shaped member adapted to position and retain said member with respect to other cooperating members;

(1. said spring bias means having a portion accessible from the downwardly facing exterior of the ceiling boards with the accessible portion being moveable along said elongated T-shaped member, away from said spring biased means-carrying end thereof for retracting said means and permitting removal of said T-shaped member from its cooperating members.

2. A frame construction for supporting ceiling boards in a substantially common plane comprising:

a. main beam members;

b. cross-grid members assembled substantially normal to said main beam members and in a substantially common plane; and,

c. means for retaining said cross-grid members in assembled relationship with said main beam members to support the ceiling boards-in a predetermined geometric configuration and to position the ceiling boards with a downwardly facing exterior;

said means having a portion accessible from the downwardly facing exterior of said ceiling boards permitting disassembly of said cross-grid members from said main beam members;

e. said means biasing each end of said cross-grid member away from said main beam members to support said cross-grid members on said main beam members.

3. A frame construction for supporting ceiling boards in a substantially commonplane comprising:

a. main beam members;

b. cross-grid members assembled substantially normal to said main beam members and in a substantially common plane; and,

. means for retaining said cross-grid members in assembled relationship with said main beam members to support the ceiling boards in a predetermined geometric configuration and to position the ceiling boards with a downwardly facing exterior;

d. said means having a portion accessible from the downwardly facing exterior of said ceiling boards permitting disassembly of said cross-grid members from said main beam member;

e. said means comprising a spring carried on at least one end of said cross-grid member and reacting on said main beam member to support said cross-grid member on said main beam member;

f. said spring having a portion extending away from said end of said cross-grid member and in contact with said main beam member during assembly of the frame to permit movement of said spring portion toward said end of said cross-grid member upon assembly of said cross-grid member with said main beam member.

4. A grid member for supporting ceiling boards in a frame construction comprising:

a. an elongated T-shaped member having a web portion and a flange portion transverse to said web portion and extending substantially throughout the length of said web portion;

b. said flange portion adapted to support ceiling boards in a predetermined configuration with the ceiling boards having a downwardly facing exterior; and,

. spring biased means carried by one end of said T- shaped member adapted to position and retain said member with respect to other co-operating members;

. said spring biased means having a portion accessible from the downwardly facing exterior of the ceiling boards with said accessible portion being operable to permit removal of said T-shaped member from its co-operating members;

e. said spring biased means containing an outwardly 40 ceiling boar extending portion attached to said T-shaped member adjacent the end thereof and an inwardly extending portion having a downwardly extending leg accessible from the exterior of the ceiling boards.

The grid member of claim 4 wherein said outwardly extending portion of said spring biased means is attached to said web portion of said T-shaped member.

The grid member of claim 4 wherein said outwardly extending portion of said spring biased means is both carried by and pivoted on said T-shaped member.

The grid member of claim 6 wherein said outwardly extending portion of said spring biased means is both carried by and pivoted on said web portion of said T-shaped member.

A ceiling construction comprising:

elongated T-shaped main beam and cross-grid members, each having a web portion and a flange portion transverse to said web portion, assembled in a substantially common plane into a predetermined geometric configuration;

said cross-grid members being carried on said main beam members and spaced from said main b m memb rs to su ort ceil'n boards;

(is suppo fied on sa id flange portions of said main beam members and said cross-grid members in a substantially common plane and presenting a downwardly facing exterior; and,

. independent spring means carried by at least one said spring means having a portion exterior of the downwardly facing exterior of said ceiling boards and moveable away from the nearest of said main beam members to permit disassembly of said cross-grid member therefrom. 

1. A grid member for supporting ceiling boards in a substantially common plane comprising: a. an elongated T-shaped member having a web portion and a flange portion transverse to said web portion and extending substantially throughout the length of said web portion; b. said flange portion being adapted to support ceiling boards in a predetermined configuration with the ceiling boards having a downwardly facing exterior; and, c. spring biased means carried by at least one end of said Tshaped member adapted to position and retain said member with respect to other co-operating members; d. said spring bias means having a portion accessible from the downwardly facing exterior of the ceiling boards with the accessible portion being moveable along said elongated T-shaped member, away from said spring biased means-carrying end thereof for retracting said means and permitting removal of said Tshaped member from its cooperating members.
 2. A frame construction for supporting ceiling boards in a substantially common plane comprising: a. main beam members; b. cross-grid members assembled substantially normal to said main beam members and in a substantially common plane; and, c. means for retaining said cross-grid members in assembled relationship with said main beam members to support the ceiling boards in a predetermined geometric configuration and to position the ceiling boards with a downwardly facing exterior; d. said means having a portion accessible from the downwardly facing exterior of said ceiling boards permitting disassembly of said cross-grid members from said main beam members; e. said means biasing each end of said cross-grid member away from said main beam members to support said cross-grid members on said main beam members.
 3. A frame construction for supporting ceiling boards in a substantially common plane comprising: a. main beam members; b. cross-grid members assembled substantially normal to said main beam members and in a substantially common plane; and, c. means for retaining said cross-grid members in assembled relationship with said main beam members to support the ceiling boards in a predetermined geometric configuration and to position the ceiling boards with a downwardly facing exterior; d. said means having a portion accessible from the downwardly facing exterior of said ceiling boards permitting disassembly of said cross-grid members from said main beam member; e. said means comprising a spring carried on at least one end of said cross-grid member and reacting on said main beam member to support said cross-grid member on said main beam member; f. said spring having a portion extending away from said end of said cross-grid member and in contact with said main beam member during assembly of the frame to permit movement of said spring portion toward said end of said cross-grid member upon assembly of said cross-grid member with said main beam member.
 4. A grid member for supporting ceiling boards in a frame construction comprising: a. an elongated T-shaped member having a web portion and a flange portion transverse to said web portion and extending substantially throughout the length of said web portion; b. said flange portion adapted to support ceiling boards in a predetermined configuration with the ceiling boards having a downwardly facing exterior; and, c. spring biased means carried by one end of said T-shaped member adapted to position and retain said member with respect to other co-operating members; d. said spring biased means having a portion accessible from the downwardly facing exterior of the ceiling boards with said accessible portion being operable to permit removal of said T-shaped member from its co-operating members; e. said spring biased means containing an outwardly extending portion attached to said T-shaped member adjacent the end thereof and an inwardly extending portion having a downwardly extending leg accessible from the exterior of the ceiling boards.
 5. The grid member of claim 4 wherein said outwardly extending portion of said spring biased means is attached to said web portion of said T-shaped member.
 6. The grid member of claim 4 wherein said outwardly extending portion of said spring biased means is both carried by and pivoted on said T-shaped member.
 7. The grid member of claim 6 wherein said outwardly extending portion of said spring biased means is both carried by and pivoted on said web portion of said T-shaped member.
 8. A ceiling construction comprising: a. elongated T-shaped main beam and cross-grid members, each having a web portion and a flange portion transverse to said web portion, assembled in a substantially common plane into a predetermined geometric configuration; b. said cross-grid members being carried on said main beam members and spaced from said main beam members to support ceiling boards; c. ceiling boards supported on said flange portions of said main beam members and said cross-grid members in a substantially common plane and presenting a downwardly facing exterior; and, d. independent spring means carried by at least one of said members retaining said members in biased assembled relationship and permitting disassembly of said cross-grid members toward said downwardly facing exterior for removal of said ceiling boards adjacent thereto; e. said spring means having a portion exterior of the downwardly facing exterior of said ceiling boards and moveable away from the nearest of said main beam members to permit disassembly of said cross-grid member therefrom. 